ML13266A182
| ML13266A182 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Byron  |
| Issue date: | 08/20/2013 |
| From: | Division of License Renewal |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-151 | |
| Download: ML13266A182 (54) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Title: Public Meeting RE License Renewal:
Byron Nuclear Station Evening Session Docket Number: 05000454 and 05000455 Location: Byron, Illinois Date: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 Work Order No.: NRC-151 Pages 1-55 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 ... +
3 BEFORE THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 4 ... +
5 Before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 6+ + + + +
7 NUCLEAR MANAGEMENT COMPANY 8 BYRON NUCLEAR STATION 9 Regarding License Renewal Application, 10 NEPA Required Scoping Meeting 11 +++++
12 TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 20, 2013 14 7:00 p.m.
15 + + + + +
16 BYRON FOREST PRESERVE 17 7993 NORTH RIVER ROAD 18 BYRON, ILLINOIS 19 + + + + +
20 The above-entitled matter came up for 21 public meeting pursuant to notice before Cheryl Hausman, 22 Facilitator.
23 24 25 NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
2 1
2 PRESENT:
3 NRC STAFF:
4 Dennis Morey 5 Bruce Bartlett 6 John Daily 7 Stuart Sheldon 8 Tam Tran 9 Prema Chandrathil 10 Anita Ghosh 11 Lindsay Robinson 12 Elizabeth Pool 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
3 1 PRO C E ED I NGS 2 (7:00 P.M.)
3 MS. HAUSMAN: I'm Cheryl Hausman. I'm 4 going to be one of the facilitators for this evening's 5 meeting. The other facilitator is Sheila Ray. And the 6 role of the facilitator is just to ensure that the meeting 7 goes smoothly, that we keep on track for time, and that 8 everybody who would like to speak, as far the public, gets 9 the chance to speak this evening. And before I get 10 started, I'd like to let everybody know that this meeting 11 is being transcribed.
12 So, if you could please keep any background 13 noise to a minimum, it would help the transcriber catch 14 all the information correctly. Also, at this time, if 15 you have any electronic devices, please put them on mute 16 or vibrate. And just a couple of ground rules. Just be 17 respectful of when other people are speaking. Try and 18 keep any background noise or any sidebar conversations 19 to a minimum, so that the court reporter can accurately 20 get all the information correct. There are two exits on 21 the backside. The right side over here goes to the 22 stairs. Left side over here, there's a ramp that goes 23 outside. And also, the restrooms are to the left.
24 And the purpose of the meeting this evening 25 is to discuss the license renewal process, to identify NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
4 1 significant issues that are related to the proposed 2 license renewal activity for the Byron's Unit 1 and 2.
3 And to determine the scope of issues to be addressed in 4 the environmental impact statement. The agenda for this 5 evening includes a presentation by NRC staff to review 6 the license renewal process. And when the presentation 7 concludes, we'll have a quick Q&_A session if there are 8 any questions that anybody has about the presentation.
9 And then we'll open it up to a public comment period.
10 When we get to the public comment period, 11 all speak a little bit more specifically to that. But, 12 just remind you that if you have a comment, there are some 13 yellow cards. If you have not filled one out, there's 14 some yellow cards on the back table. Please fill one out 15 and your name will be called, and you can come up and 16 address the audience, and make your comment.
17 We have a few introductions for the NRC 18 staff. I'd like to introduce, I'll start with Dennis.
19 Introduce yourself.
20 MR. MOREY: Okay, thank you. I'm Dennis 21 Morey. I'm the chief of the aging management of reactors 22 systems branch and the divisional license renewal at the 23 Nuclear Regulatory Commission. So, I want to welcome 24 you to our Byron kickoff meeting. My role here tonight 25 is to, you know, make sure the meeting go smoothly and NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
5 1 to help answer questions and make sure you're able to make 2 your comments. And so, with that, I guess we'll get on 3 with the meeting then.
4 MS. HAUSMAN: Bruce.
5 MR. BARTLETT: My name is Bruce Bartlett.
6 I am the senior resident inspector for Region III 7 assigned to the Byron facility. There are two resident 8 inspectors at each of the nuclear power plants, and 9 myself and John Robbins are the two assigned to Byron.
10 MR. SHELDON: Hi. I'm Stuart Sheldon. I am 11 a senior inspector from our regional office, the NRC
.12 regional office in Lisle, Illinois, and I will be the 13 person leading the inspections associated with the 14 safety review portion of the license renewal.
15 MR. DAILY: Good evening. My name is John 16 Daily. I'm the senior project manager in the division 17 of license renewal. I manage the safety review that we 18 are conducting for the application that Exelon has put 19 in for the Byron and Braidwood nuclear stations.
20 MR. TRAN: My name is Tam Tran. I'm an 21 environmental project manager. Lois James is the 22 project manager for Byron environmental review for 23 associate for license renewal for Byron. She's not here 24 today and, therefore, I'm standing in for her, basically.
25 MS. HAUSMAN: Prema.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
6 1 MS. CHANDRATHIL: Hi everyone. I'm Prema 2 Chandrathil. I'm the public affairs officer for the 3 Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I deal mainly with 4 members of the public and inquiries from reporters.
5 Thanks.
6 MS. HAUSMAN: And Lindsay.
7 MS. ROBINSON: Hi. I'm Lindsay Robinson.
8 I'm also from NRC. I am also a safety project manager, 9 and I'm also participating with John in the safety 10 evaluation for the license renewal.
11 MS. HAUSMAN: And we also have Elizabeth 12 Pool here from EPA.
13 MS. POOL: Hi. My name's Elizabeth Pool.
14 I'm from EPA in Chicago Region V. I'm in the NEPA 15 compliance division and the lead reviewer for the NEPA 16 review on behalf of the EPA.
17 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. We also have a 18 security officer here, Mr. Jeff Zelkowski, just to 19 oversee the meeting and for any kind of safety issues that 20 we may have. Okay, we're going to just please, we're 21 going to start the presentation. Please hold any 22 questions that you have related to the presentation until 23 the end. So Dennis, would you like to start the 24 presentation.
25 MR. MOREY: Start the presentation? I NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
7 1 think that's John.
2 MS. HAUSMAN: John? John.
3 MR. DAILY: Thank you. Thank you, Cheryl.
4 As I said, my name is John Daily, senior project manager.
5 And this evening we ' re here to discuss a couple of points 6 in our presentation, basically to give you a brief of 7 the license renewal process. It's composed, as you're 8 going to see here in a few minutes of two tracks; a safety 9 review and an environmental review. Both of them are 10 represented here tonight.
11 And then following that, of course, we will 12 continue on with the comments that might be relevant to 13 the environmental impact scoping, and Tam is going to be 14 taking care of all the environmental issues and 15 discussion of that this evening. Next slide. The other 16 thing that I would mention here is the comments are, 17 obviously, we're here to solicit comments from the 18 public. We'd like to know those things that will, that 19 ought to be addressed, in your opinion, in the 20 environmental review. And that will be part of the part 21 that I spoke of here briefly. Next slide.
22 The NRC's mandate comes from public law, 23 from federal law, the Atomic Energy Act of 1951, as 24 amended. And then, the National Environmental Policy 25 Act of 1969, as amended. Basically, those two laws set NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
8 1 up the charter and the framework for the licensing and 2 review of nuclear for commercial use. And, as our 3 agency, the NRC, we've been charged with that 4 responsibility.
5 In conjunction with that, we identified a 6 threefold mission that we have here outlined. First of 7 all, the first point is to protect public health and 8 safety. So we regulate and oversee the operation of 9 civilian use of nuclear radioactive isotopes for 10 commercial use. The second is to promote a common 11 defense and security for the country. And the third is 12 to protect the environment. To make sure that the 13 operations that are conducted under our oversight are not 14 harmful to the environment. Next slide.
15 So tonight, just as a brief introduction to 16 Byron station, itself, some of you may be familiar with 17 this information. But for the benefit of the others, 18 Byron was built and constructed as two units. They're 19 just right down the road a couple of miles. Unit 1 has 20 been given an operating license that expires in October 21 of 2024. Unit 2 has an operating license that expires 22 in November of 2026.
23 Now, a little bit earlier this year, Exelon 24 Generation LLC submitted an application to renew those 25 operating licenses, an that application was given to us NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com v
9 1 at the end of May, May 29, 2013. That's what we're in 2 the process of reviewing and, of course, that's what has 3 come about with the meeting tonight and the activities 4 that we're doing. Next slide.
5 The application, itself, that Exelon 6 prepared, or that any applicant prepares when they 7 request a renewal of their operating license, is divided 8 into three parts. It's actually several volumes, thick, 9 take up a big space on your shelf in a library. The first 10 section is general information about the plant owner or 11 operator itself, corporate information, financial 12 fitness and so forth. Those things are in the first 13 section.
14 Then the second section covers technical 15 information about plant systems and structures and 16 components. There are literally hundreds of systems 17 that are involved, and thousands of components and each 18 one has their own analysis and their own programs to be 19 identified in order to make sure that they're being 20 managed adequately.
21 The final portion, which is just as 22 important, is the environmental report, where the 23 applicant has conducted their own environmental study of 24 the operation of the plant and its impact upon the 25 environment, whether it's air, water, ground, NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202)
- o 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
10 1 socioeconomic and so forth. And then they prepare that 2 as an input, as a portion of the application, as well.
3 And then, all of this, then, when it comes into us, at 4 the Agency, we then conduct several thousand man hours 5 of review. We have an extensive process that we're going 6 through. And, of course, that's what we're going to 7 review a little bit tonight by way of overview. Next 8 slide.
9 As you see here, the license renewal 10 process, basically, takes the form of two tracks. These 11 tracks run fairly much in parallel with each other. The 12 first track that we'll talk about is the safety review, 13 there across the top. And this is the technical review 14 of the plant and the systems and all the components that 15 are important to safety. And that, of course is 16 conducted. And then, in parallel, then, the 17 environmental review, along side where we are, once 18 again, examining for our own review and opinion, the 19 impact and the considerations of this plant and how it 20 might affect the environment that it's situated in.
21 Once the safety review, then, going back to 22 the top, once our safety review is completed, we develop 23 what's called a safety evaluation report. It's pretty 24 thick. But we submit that, then, to an independent 25 review panel. This review panel reports directly to the NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
11 1 Commission. They don't work for any of the other parts 2 of the Agency. They report directly to the 3 commissioners, and they give their independent 4 assessment of the accuracy and the adequacy of the 5 programs and the evaluations that have been presented.
6 They provide their own opinion.
7 And that is also something that's needed 8 before the Agency would make its decision that that 9 opinion would be favorable. If either the safety review 10 or the environmental review has a party that comes 11 forward during a proceeding, as it is with any federal 12 action, they can petition for a hearing because they 13 believe that they might have an issue that needs to be 14 heard and needs to be tried. This then becomes, 15 basically, a legal proceeding, somewhat like a court 16 proceeding.
17 And that ' s the hearing portion that you see 18 here in the center. Any questions like that that are 19 accepted, we have a panel of administrative law judges 20 that will sit and will hear the evidence. That hearing, 21 and any issues that pertain to that, must also be 22 resolved, if it's there, before a final decision would 23 be made. Then once all of those avenues have been 24 satisfied and completed, the Agency can then make its 25 decision regarding the renewal of the operating license.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., NW.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
12 1 And, if everything is favorable, and if 2 everything, you know, meets the regulations that we've 3 established, and we have reasonable assurance that the 4 environmental impact is not so great, and that the 5 applicant will operate it in accordance with the 6 regulations and maintain it then, at that point we could 7 decide to renew the license. It's a long process. It 8 generally takes a couple of years. It could take longer.
9 We're not really tied to a time line because the safety 10 is actually more important than the schedule. Next 11 slide.
12 I think I've covered most of the things on 13 this particular slide in the discussion. We talked 14 about that we're focusing on the safety side. We look 15 at the components that are important to safety, and we 16 look at the aging effects that are operating upon those 17 components. And we make sure that those effects have 18 been identified, and that they're adequately going to be 19 managed through formal programs that the applicant will 20 establish.
21 The environmental review then, let's see if 22 there's anything, we talked about how we're going to 23 analyze and disclose any environmental effects, 24 basically in accordance with the NEPA law. We take a 25 hard look at the operation to make sure that the NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
13 1 environmental impacts will be such that it would be 2 acceptable, I guess, in order to license the facility for 3 further operation. Next slide.
4 In addition to the license renewal process, 5 as an Agency, we also have what we call ongoing regulatory 6 oversight. And that's where Bruce and his counterpart, 7 the other resident inspector down at Byron station, come 8 in. Because they are on duty, basically, every day of 9 the year. They're full-time assignment is here, and 10 they look at oversight on an ongoing basis through 11 inspections, through questioning, through reports, to 12 make sure that the day-to-day operations are still being 13 conducted in accordance with the regulations and the 14 safety rules that we've established.
15 We also have areas that look into, for 16 example, emergency planning. We have areas of the 17 Agency that look into the physical security of the 18 facilities, to make sure that the physical security is 19 adequately addressed and the people and the systems are 20 adequately protected from, you know, any concerns that 21 might pertain to that. We also publish current safety 22 performance on an ongoing basis.
23 I think it's either every quarter or every 24 year, and we have some websites where you can see, for 25 example, the current performance in a chart form. Where NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
14 1 there's the different milestones and the different 2 aspects of plant operation, whether it's safety, 3 radiological health and so forth. Are these conditions 4 green or red or whatever. And you can actually see on 5 an ongoing basis our assessment of the operational health 6 and performance of the station. So, those are actually 7 a part of our website and you can actually go see those 8 at any time. Next slide.
9 So, just to kind of begin a wrap-up of this 10 portion, in license renewal, we have certain safety 11 principals that we base our license renewal process upon.
12 And one of them is that we have a robust and adequate 13 regulatory oversight process that continues. And that 14 process will continue throughout any renewed license 15 that might be granted. That's not going to change. And 16 the applicant or the licensee will be subject to, you 17 know, all the laws of, and regulations that the 18 Commission may put out from time to time. That's not 19 going to change. It's also not going to change 20 as far as the operating rules and regulations that apply 21 during the renewal term. Those are very much the same 22 ones that apply right now today. The only other thing 23 is that, in addition to that, we may have other additional 24 conditions that relate to aging management in order to 25 make sure that all of the systems will be kept up in an NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
15 1 acceptable state of health, as it were, throughout that 2 period of extended operation. Next slide.
3 And so then, for the technical staff, as we 4 review the application, we not only review what's been 5 submitted, we actually also conduct onsite audits where 6 we go dig into the background information. And there's 7 several bookshelves of background information that, you 8 know, has been assembled. But even if, you know, even 9 if we find something in the, some of the plant history 1 or the operating experience on the database, we'll dig 11 down into that. All to make sure that everything is 12 adding up, and that we, you know, we really have some 13 adequacy of the programs that are being conducted.
14 We also will be performing inspections, as 15 Stu had mentioned, where they will come out and they will 16 actually look at the implementation of some of these 17 programs to make sure that, in real life, what's been said 18 programmatically is actually being handled and carried 19 out on a day-to-day basis. Then, finally, the 20 independent review by our advisory committee on reactor 21 safeguards. This is that panel that I mentioned 22 earlier. It's a bunch of top scientists and engineers 23 that are really sharp. And they have their own 24 questions, and they dig in with their own experience and 25 background, again, to make sure that no stone has been NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
16 1 unturned, as it were, in looking at the adequacy of the 2 review and the application.
3 At this point, we'll turn it over, next 4 slide, environmental review, and we'll have Tam come up 5 and talk to you. Thank you.
6 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you, John.
7 MR. TRAN: Thank you, John. For the 8 environmental review, the staff will perform a 9 environmental review in accordance with the National 10 Environmental Policy Act or so-called NEPA. NEPA 11 provides the basic architecture for federal 12 environmental review requirements. It requires that 13 all federal agencies follow a systematic approach in 14 evaluating potential impacts associated with major 15 federal actions, and alternatives to those actions.
16 The NEPA process involves public 17 participation and public involvement, as well as public 18 disclosure. The NRC environmental regulations 19 contained in 10CFR, part 51, are largely based on other 20 implemented regulations for NEPA. The NRC 21 environmental reviews consider the impact associated 22 with the license renewal and any mitigation for those 23 impacts we consider to be significant. We also consider 24 impact of alternative to license renewal, including the 25 impact of not issuing the renewed license itself. Next NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
17 1 slide.
2 In conducting the review, the NRC staff will 3 look at various impacts to the affected environment.
4 This review involves a wide range of expertise 5 illustrated on this slide. The experts will examine 6 environmental justice, ecology, land use, regulatory 7 compliance, climate change, et cetera, for the EIS for 8 the environmental impact statement. Next slide.
9 As illustrated on this slide, some of the 10 agencies that we work with include U.S. Fish and Wildlife 11 Service, Environmental Protection Agency, state 12 historical preservation offices, as well as many local 13 and state agencies, and any affected Indian tribes.
14 Next slide.
15 The NRC staff will also review cumulative 16 impacts associated with the continued operation of 17 Braidwood station. For cumulative impacts, the staff 18 will look at the effects on the environment from past, 19 present and reasonable foreseeable future of human 20 action. The cumulative impacts include both from the 21 Byron station operations and from other activity near 22 Byron. In other words, the cumulative impact analysis 23 considers potential impact to the end of the 20-year 24 renewal term.
25 For the time beyond the 20-year period of NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
18 1 extended operations the NRC, with confidence, addresses 2 the environmental impact of the management of spent 3 nuclear fuel after the license life, including the 4 renewal term. Previous license renewal environmental 5 impact statements noted that the environmental impacts 6 of temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel for the period 7 following the reactor operating license term, were 8 addressed by the NRC Waste Confidence Rule.
9 The Waste Confidence environmental impact 10 statement is expected to be issued in 2014. In August, 11 2012, the Commission decided that the Agency would not 12 issue final licensing decisions for reactors, including 13 the license renewal, until the Waste Confidence 14 regulatory activities are completed. If, at that time, 15 any license renewal related site specific issues at the 16 Byron remain unresolved, they will be addressed 17 separately. Next slide.
18 The environmental review begins with the 19 scoping process, which is where we are today. The 20 purpose of the scoping process is to identify significant 21 issues that should be considered in the environmental 22 review. We are now gathering information that we will 23 use to prepare the environmental impact statement for the 24 Byron station license renewal. That is the 25 environmental impacts that are local to this area, and NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
19 1 that are important to the staff to consider.
2 The staff as developed a generic 3 environmental impact statement that addresses a number 4 of issues common to all nuclear power plants. The staff 5 is supplementing that generic EIS with a site-specific 6 supplemental EIS for the Byron station. The staff will 7 also re-examine the conclusions reached in that generic 8 EIS to determine if there is any new and significant 9 information that would change the conclusion in the 10 generic EIS. The scoping period started July 31st, and 11 we will continue to take comments until September 27th.
12 Next slide.
13 In general, we are looking for information 14 about the environmental impacts from continued operation 15 of the Byron station during the extended period of 16 operations. You can assist us in that process by telling 17 us, for example, what aspect of your local community we 18 should focus on. What local environmental, social and 19 economic issues that the NRC staff should examine. And 2 what reasonable alternatives are most appropriate for 21 this region. Next.
22 This slide illustrates the NRC's various 23 considerations for deciding if the renewed operation 24 will be issued. It's a rigorous review involving the 25 EIS, the safety evaluation report, regional inspection NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
20 and so on. But what' s important to point out here is that 2 the public comments are an important part of the license 3 renewal process. We consider all comments that we 4 receive today and throughout the scoping period. And it 5 helps us to inform and to shape the supplemental 6 environmental impact statement. Next.
7 In addition to providing comment at today's 8 meeting, there are other ways that you can submit 9 comments on the environmental review. You can provide 10 written comments by mail to NRC chief of rules and 11 director branch at the addressed provided on this slide.
12 And there are copies of these slides for your use. Or 13 you can send your comment electronically by going to the 14 regulation.gov website. You can also make your comments 1 in person, if you happen to be in Rockville, Maryland.
16 We ask that you get in touch with the NRC project manager 17 beforehand so that we can set up the appropriate 18 arrangements. The comments should be submitted to us by 19 September 27th. Next.
20 This slide shows some important milestones 21 for the environmental review process. The petition to 22 request for hearing due on September 23, 2013. We plan 23 to issue the draft environmental impact statement in 24 2014. Once the draft is issued, there will be a comment 25 period where, again, there will be an opportunity for the NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
21 1 public to read through the draft EIS, and to comment on 2 the draft. Next slide.
3 The point of contact for the environmental 4 review is Lois James. And the contact for the safety 5 review is John Daily, and their information is listed 6 here on this slide. The Byron library has agreed to make 7 the license renewal application available for public 8 review and, when it's published for comment, the draft 9 supplemental environmental impact statement will also be 10 available at the library. In addition, these documents 11 will be on the NRC website listed on this slide.
12 As you came in, you were asked to fill out 13 a registration card at the reception desk. If you have 14 include your address on that card, and indicated you 15 would like to be on the distribution list, we will send 16 a copy of the draft and the final EIS for your 17 information. If you didn't have an opportunity to fill 18 out the card, you know, please feel free to do that before 19 you leave, and add your address to it so that we know how 20 to get in touch with you. That concludes my 21 presentation, so I'm going to turn the meeting over to 22 the facilitator.
23 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you, John. Thank you, 24 Tam. Okay. Does anybody in the audience have any 25 questions and answers relating to the presentation that NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
22 1 you've just seen? If so, I'd like to ask you to come up 2 the podium. Going once. Going twice. Okay, step up, 3 please, and state your name.
4 MR. STERLING: Do you want me here?
5 MS. HAUSMAN: Yes, that's fine.
6 MR. STERLING: My name is Ed Sterling. I'm 7 a neighbor of the plant. My question for you just simply 8 was if I want to make some suggestions or some input into 9 your EIS, how do I do that? Do you have a form I need 10 to fill out, or what?
11 MR. TRAN: As listed on our slide, if you 12 can go back, there are several ways for you to provide 13 us with comment. Of course, we collect comments today.
14 So, you can provide written comment or oral comments.
15 And with your oral comment, it will be captured with the 16 court reporter transcript, and we will use that to 17 develop our EIS. Also, you can also send in your comment 18 to the address, to the Chief of Rules at directed branch.
19 And, of course, we have the regulation.gov, 20 where you can electronically go in there and fill in 21 comments. And at the end of this meeting, the 22 facilitator will announce, you know, what will be the 23 next step for us, which is the scoping summary report, 24 for which all scoping participants will get a copy of that 25 report.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
23 1 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Any other 2 questions regarding the presentation? Okay, we'll now 3 move into the public comment section of the meeting. I 4 have cards here for some of the people who have already 5 filled it out, noting that they wanted to make a comment.
6 If there' s anybody who has not filled out a yellow card, 7 please do so so that I can call your name and have you 8 make your comment. Okay, I'm going to call the names of 9 people whose cards I have, and please step up to the 10 podium, state your name and make your comment. First I 11 would like to invite Jarid Funderburg.
12 MR. FUNDERBURG: Good evening. My name is 13 Jarid Funderburg. I am the field representative for 14 Congressman Adam Kinzinger, Illinois 16th District. I 15 would like to read a letter on his behalf. Dear Nuclear 16 Regulatory Commissioners, I write to express my full 17 support for the renewal of the operating license of the 18 nuclear generating station at Byron, Illinois. This 19 facility provides lower energy costs for residents and 20 businesses, and supports hundreds of high-paying jobs in 21 Illinois, while helping to ensure statement compliance 22 with federal Clean Air Act regulations.
23 It will, undoubtedly, play an important 24 role in meeting the energy needs of Illinoisans well into 25 the future. Nuclear energy production plays a critical NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
24 1 role in Illinois, where nuclear energy generates 48 2 percent of the state's electricity and employs nearly 3 5,000 skilled workers. Having visited the Byron 4 generating facility, I can attest to the value it has to 5 local residents and communities, which benefit through 6 reduced energy costs, high quality jobs, and significant 7 tax revenue.
8 While many areas of Illinois struggle to 9 meet clean air standards, the generating station at Byron 10 offers affordable abundant energy with a fraction of the 11 greenhouse gas emissions as other conventional energy 12 sources. As Americans' and Illinoisans' demand for 13 energy rises, nuclear generating stations like Byron 14 will be vital to meeting the energy needs of our citizens.
15 I fully support the operating license renewal for this 16 generating station, and I believe it will play a critical 17 role in making American and the State of Illinois more 18 energy secure. Sincerely, Adam Kinzinger, Member of 19 Congress. Thank you.
20 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Next I would like 21 to invite Tom Demmer, state representative.
22 MR. DEMMER: Thank you. I'd also like to 23 offer support for the license renewal application, and 24 I do so for a couple of reasons. First, I think that the 25 mark of a strong community is often the diversification NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
25 1 that we see in industry. And around here, we have some 2 of the best agricultural industries in the state, and the 3 country, really. We have a long history of 4 manufacturing success, and we're seeing a resurgence in 5 that. And I would add to that a strength in the diversity 6 that we have for our local economy through the energy 7 industry.
8 As Congressman Kinzinger's letter said, we 9 see, through the Byron generating plant, quite a few 10 good-paying, long-term jobs. We see a lot of tax revenue 11 that supports buildings like this forest preserve 12 property, the schools in the area, the library, and many 13 of the public services that residents of Byron, and 14 really of all of northern Illinois enjoy.
15 We also see access to affordable, reliable 16 power, and that's a key component of building any modern, 17 efficient economy. And it provides incentive for 18 companies to locate around here that bring further job 19 and economic opportunities to this region. So, I think 20 we've seen some great examples of how Exelon and the staff 21 at the plant are good corporate citizens in the 22 community. Very active in participating and supporting 23 community endeavors. Bring to us a lot of stability in 24 the economy, a lot of job opportunities. And provide the 25 community with a significant asset.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
26 1 And it's for those reasons that I know 2 across my district, and really across northern Illinois, 3 there's widespread support for the Byron generating 4 plants, and that's why I support the license renewal 5 application. Thank you.
6 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Next I'd like to 7 invite Mr. Russ Kearney, site VP for Byron.
8 Mr. KEARNEY: Good evening, ladies and 9 gentlemen, officials of the State of Illinois, local law 10 enforcement, members of NRC EPA. My name is Russ 11 Kearney. I am the site vice president at the Byron 12 generating station. I have a little bit better than 30 13 years experience in the commercial nuclear power 14 industry. I started my career in nuclear power, 15 actually, in the United States Navy, where I served our 16 country onboard nuclear submarines for some six years.
17 And I began my commercial experience in 1982 18 at FirstEnergy's nuclear power station up in Perry, Ohio.
19 At Perry, I licensed as a senior reactor operator; held 20 that license for a little bit better than 15 years. I 21 joined Exelon in 2005, and I've held positions at the 22 Dresden station at the director level. And then I had 23 site vice president responsibilities at the Clinton 24 nuclear station which is in central Illinois, Limerick 25 generating station, and now the privilege of managing the NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
27 1 Byron station through normal operations and into the 2 license renewal space.
3 I can tell you that myself and the employees 4 at the Byron generating station have a strong commitment 5 to safe and reliable operations of our station. That 6 includes the operation of the plant, and it also includes 7 our commitment to the environment. Each day we renew 8 that commitment to ourselves, to our industry and, as 9 well as to the community. You'll find that, 10 environmentally speaking, we have a very solid air 11 quality monitoring program locally at the station.
12 We monitor the quality of the ground water 13 around the station and on all our site property. WE have 14 some 15 monitoring wells that we're continuously 15 checking ground water quality for affects from our 16 nuclear operations. And then, lastly, in the local 17 area, some 10-mile radius around the station, we have 40 18 radiological monitoring stations that continuously 19 monitor the environment and then our technicians are 20 trained to go and retrieve that data, analyze it, and 21 compile reports for ourselves and also for other 22 government agencies.
23 Environmentally speaking, Byron is 24 certified to an ISO standard ISO 14001. In plain 25 language, that's an international standard for the NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
28 1 environment. We're proud to be ISO 14001 holders.
2 Recently, within the past year, the Wildlife Habitat 3 Council awarded the employees at the Byron station for 4 their environmental stewardship, a Wildlife At-work 5 Certification. Now that certification represents, 6 clearly, the station's footprint that we have in the 7 local community, environmentally speaking. We use our 8 land, that is not used for production, to house and 9 provide a habitat for local species as food, and shelter 10 and water, et cetera. We're very proud of that 11 certification.
12 If I can, I'll shift just for a minute to 13 the plant. Exelon is committed to continue to make 14 capital improvements at the Byron station. Year over 15 year we make significant capital improvements, which go 16 towards renovation of equipment, replacement of 17 equipment. Some design modifications still, you know, 18 30 years into the station's life, we still modifying the 19 plant and modernizing the plant. Those capital 20 investments also serve to help our operations, make it 21 much more safe and much more efficient as we go.
22 Capital investment is one area, but we also 23 invest heavily in our employees. Since 2011, we've 24 hired over 200 employees at the station. We expect that 25 trend to continue for the next several years, as the first NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
29 1 generation of nuclear completes their assignment at our 2 stations, and we onboard the next generation in nuclear.
3 Very active, very active bunch.
4 Lastly, I would tell you that our investment 5 in the community is an item that we wear very proudly.
6 Over the last year, we have monetarily contributed to the 7 community some $300,000 to agencies in the local area, 8 principally through the United Way and their partnered 9 agencies. Money is one item, but you'll also find many 10 Byron employees out in the community, working arm in arm 11 with local food banks. They're in our schools, both 12 teaching and contributing and conducting blood drives, 13 donor drives, of the like. Byron employees have a great 14 heart for the people that are in this area.
15 We've completed better than 25 years of safe 16 and reliable power plant operations. That's, as I said 17 earlier, that's what we're committed to. We will 18 continue that commitment the first 40-year license that 19 we're currently licensed to, and then on into the renewal 20 period when that time period comes. I look forward to 21 being part of the Byron plant for a number of years to 22 go. And I thank you for the opportunity to comment this 23 evening.
24 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Next, Mr. Mike 25 Gallagher, VP of license renewal for Exelon.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
30 1 MR. GALLAGHER: Okay, good evening. My 2 name is Mike Gallagher, and I'm the vice president of 3 license renewal for Exelon, and I have overall 4 responsibility for the Byron license renewal project.
5 So, first of all, I'd like to thank the NRC for this 6 opportunity to speak on behalf of Exelon. This is a very 7 important project for us, and I'm very glad to be here.
8 Exelon has a great deal of experience with 9 license renewal, as we have completed and obtained the 10 renewed licenses for our Dresden and Quad Cities plants 11 here in Illinois, and for three of our other facilities 12 in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We also have an 13 application for our Limerick nuclear power plant in with 14 the NRC, and it's under NRC review.
15 So just a little bit, briefly, about myself.
16 I've been working in the nuclear power industry for 32 17 years. I was a licensed senior operator and plant 18 manager at the Limerick power plant in Pennsylvania.
19 And I've worked at two other nuclear plants and our 20 corporate office. So Mr. Kearney, the site vice 21 president for Byron, spoke to you about our rigorous 22 plant operations, and about the reasons for renewing the 23 license for Byron.
24 What I'd like to talk to you about is about 25 the process that we go through for preparing this license NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
31 1 renewal application, and the amount of work and 2 engineering analysis that we put into preparing the 3 application. Because the Byron station can be operated 4 safely and reliably, Exelon decided to pursue license 5 renewal. Byron's safe, efficient operation promotes a 6 critical supply of carbon-free electricity for Illinois 7 and beyond. Byron produces enough clean power to supply 8 more than two million homes.
9 So, in 2011, we announced our intention to 10 seek license renewal for Byron, and a similar plant at 11 the Braidwood generating station down in Will County.
12 Later that year, we started the work necessary to prepare 13 the application and, after over two years of work, we've 14 submitted the application to the Nuclear Regulatory 15 Commission on May 29, 2013. Safe and reliable 16 operations has been a hallmark at Byron station since it 17 came online, and our goal, during the license renewal 18 process, to demonstrate to the NRC and to our neighbors 19 that we will continue this legacy in the additional 20 20-year operating period.
21 The application, when you print it out, it's 22 about 3,500 pages, and when you put it in binders, it fits 23 into about four large binders about this thick. It's a 24 huge amount of information. But that only represents a 25 small part of the work that was done for the engineering NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
32 1 analysis to prepare the application. The total amount 2 of this engineering analysis, if we printed it all out, 3 would be about 400 binders of information.
4 We invested over 90,000 man hours of 5 engineering work. And, once we completed our work to 6 prepare the application, we brought in experts from 7 outside Exelon to review the application to ensure it was 8 complete, thorough and accurate. Our total cost to 9 prepare and get our application reviewed by the NRC for 10 both Byron and Braidwood will be approximately $45 11 million.
12 There are two different parts to our 13 application; the safety review and the environmental 14 review. For the safety review, we took an in depth look 15 at the history and the condition of the safety equipment 16 in the plant. We did that to determine whether the 17 necessary maintenance was being performed on that 18 equipment, and to make sure that the equipment will be 19 able to operate as needed, not only today, but for an 20 additional 20 years of operation.
21 So, when you look back at Byron when it was 22 built, all the equipment was new, it was thoroughly 23 tested to make sure it would perform properly. But, like 24 anything else, equipment does age. And, therefore, 2 certain activities need to be performed. Sometimes we NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
33 1 perform preventative maintenance. Sometimes the 2 equipment is refurbished. Some equipment may be 3 replaced. There may be modifications done to the plant 4 to upgrade the equipment, as Mr. Kearney had talked 5 about. In fact, Exelon has invested over $220 million 6 in the last three years alone at Byron to improve and 7 modernize equipment, and enhance plant operations and 8 safety.
9 We also reviewed calculations that were 10 performed as part of the design of the plant that were 11 done to ensure the plant could operate of the original 12 40 years, and we analyzed those calculations, and were 13 able to confirm that the plant would be able to operate 14 safely for 60 years. So, overall, our conclusion from 15 our engineering review was that Byron could operate 16 safely for 60 years.
17 We also took a look at the environmental 18 impacts of continuing to operate Byron. We looked at all 19 the aspects of continued impact of the plant on the 20 environment. Our conclusion is that the impacts on the 21 environment are small. And I use the term small in the 22 sense that is defined in the regulation. And it's 23 defined as the environmental effects are not detectible 24 or are minor.
25 We also reviewed the alternatives if Byron NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
34 1 would not have its license renewed, and another source 2 of electric generation would have to be installed either 3 here onsite or someplace else to generate the replacement 4 electricity. We concluded that any other means of 5 generation generating the replacement electricity would 6 have more of an impact on the environment than the 7 continued operation of Byron.
8 So, in conclusion, we operate Byron safely, 9 and we can continue to operate safely for an additional 10 20 years. Byron will provide approximately 2,340 11 megawatts of base load generation that's not only safe, 12 but it's clean, it's reliable, and economical.
13 Continued operation of Byron will benefit this 14 community, the State of Illinois and our nation. Thank 15 you.
16 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Ron Colson from 17 Blackhawk Hills Regional Council. Okay. Doug O'Brien, 18 Illinois Clean Energy Coalition.
19 MR. O'BRIEN: Thank you. My name is Doug 20 O'Brien. I am the executive director of the Illinois 21 Clean Energy Coalition. And our group is made up of 22 business, labor and policy leaders from across the State 23 of Illinois representing thousands of employees and 24 employers, small businesses and policy leaders 25 throughout the state. Our organization promotes the NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
35 1 development and use of clean energy in a competitive 2 market that benefits both the environment and our 3 economy.
4 And we're hearing a lot about the positive 5 impacts that Byron has on surrounding communities, the 6 jobs, the economic activity that pumps billions into the 7 local economy. But the positive impacts reach much 8 further than the areas that benefit from the plant 9 operations. Nuclear power and the Byron generating 10 station significantly enhance the reliability of our 11 regional energy market.
12 Nuclear provides the backbone of baseline 13 power supply. Meaning employers that rely on 14 electricity, the manufacturers, information technology 15 firms, hospitals and retailers for whom electricity is 16 a major input, know that they can rely on an abundant 17 supply. Nuclear also brings broad benefits to Illinois 18 by helping maintain a competitive marketplace for 19 consumers.
20 And while many factors, obviously, play 21 into the rates that are paid by residential and 22 commercial customers, the existence of this reliable and 23 abundant baseline supply is a significant factor in 24 Illinois' lower energy costs; more than 10 percent lower 25 than the national average, 25 percent lower than in the NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
36 1 State of Michigan, and over 40 percent lower than in the 2 State of New York, according to the U.S. Energy 3 Information Administration.
4 And the benefits derived from Byron and the 5 other nuclear plants in Illinois are not limited to the 6 economy. It is an enormous benefit that the generation 7 of 18 million megawatts of electricity at Byron last year 8 produced no carbon air emissions. Earlier this year, 9 NASA's Goddard Institute sought to quantify the real 10 impact of nuclear power's carbon-free emission 11 operations. The Goddard study found that replacing 12 nuclear power with fossil fuel generation would lead to 13 up to 76,000 thousand additional deaths per year 14 globally, primarily as a result of increased cardio and 15 pulmonary disease.
16 And this is even more important in the State 17 of Illinois. The Chicago metro area is designated as a 18 non-attainment area by the EPA due to air pollution. And 19 this situation would be greatly exacerbated without the 20 existence of Byron generating station which produces 21 energy, as we heard, to power up to two million homes 22 without adding to this existing environmental problem.
23 And for these reasons, the Illinois Clean Energy 24 Coalition urges the renewal of the operating license for 25 Byron station. Thank you very much.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
37 1 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you, and Ron Colson, 2 you just came in, from Blackhawk Hills Regional Council.
3 MR. COLSON: Is there a selected podium 4 here?
5 MS. HAUSMAN: Either one is fine.
6 MR. COLSON: Okay. I just came in the 7 door. I was signed up earlier, and missed the afternoon 8 session when they cut it short. I'm Ron Colson, the 9 president of Blackhawk Hills Regional Council, also the 10 Ogle County board representative of that group.
11 Blackhawk Hills Regional Council is an organization of 12 six northwest Illinois counties, Joe Davies, Carroll, 13 Stephenson, Ogle, Lee and Whiteside. And we have a 14 rather divergent task.
15 We were founded by both the counties and 16 their economic development efforts and the soil and water 17 conservation districts in those counties, in their 18 conservation efforts. So, we work in an area to find 19 that economic development and resource conservation are 20 not mutually exclusive terms. Certainly, clean energy 21 that we feel the Byron station represents is an important 22 part of both of those missions.
23 In our six-county area, there's, obviously 24 in Ogle County, the home to the plant, there is a 25 significant affect to the tax base on regional or local, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
38 1 between local, let's call it countywide recreational and 2 government services and educational services. So the 3 tax base factor is significant. That's the business 4 side. I know we're talking environmental here.
5 The jobs that this plant represents are 6 significant to our area just in the ability of people to 7 make a living. It represents a large number of the best 8 ongoing jobs in the area. Plus, the outside contractors 9 that come in for the outages represent significant 10 business to our hotels, restaurants, things of that 11 nature.
12 So these, after that, and we have found the 13 experience of several decades now that this, I can't 14 claim to be an expert on this, but I think it ' s the opinion 15 of most folks in this area that this is probably the best 16 run nuclear power station in the country, possibly in the 17 world, where we have that feeling of the plant and of the 18 employees that operate it. We' re very proud of it. The 19 record is established, both for effective production of 20 electricity and for safe operation and for concern with 21 maintaining both of those very high standards.
22 So we are very much in support of the 23 re-licensing. We think it's a continued asset for our 24 area. And we hope that it will continue as an asset, and 25 it's certainly established itself very well in that NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
39 1 regard. Thank you.
2 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Kim Gouker, Ogle 3 County board. Okay. Charles Medrano, engineer at 4 Byron station.
5 MR. MEDRANO: Good evening. I don't have 6 a prepared speech. I just wanted to speak to you, not 7 only as a design engineer who does the number crunching 8 and analyses at the plant, but more importantly as a 9 husband and a father and a brother to people who live in 10 Byron. And so as you can tell, I have, you know, avested 11 interest in safe operation of the plant.
12 And, you know, I can, I know I speak for 13 myself and for a lot of the people at the plant that we 14 work very hard, day in, day out, to ensure that we put 15 safety first in everything we do, and technical rigor in 16 everything we do and we touch. And we strive to maintain 17 integrity with, you know, whether it's a calculation or 18 whether it's a study or review, you know, this is 19 something we take very seriously, especially, you know, 20 after learning and hearing about various events 21 throughout the world related to nuclear power. We take 22 these things very seriously. So, for what it's worth, 23 I just wanted to share my perspective as a voice within 24 the plant. So, thank you.
25 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Dan Westin, NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
40 1 Rochelle Utilities.
2 MR. WESTIN: Dan West Rochelle 3 Municipality Utilities, RMU. RMU supports the license 4 renewal, specifically as to the Byron plant, it's 5 reliability to the generation of power in the region.
6 Thank you.
7 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Ronald Bolin, 8 Exelon.
9 MR. BOLIN: Hello, I'm Ron Bolin. I'm a 10 system engineer at Byron. What I do is I am in charge 11 of maintaining the reliability of the diesel generators 12 at the station. I just wanted to give an example of like 13 when we talk about capital projects that we try to do to 14 keep the plant modernized and keep everything safe.
15 So we just recently approved adding a state 16 of the art monitoring system for the diesel generators.
17 What it does is it will allow us to trend and analyze using 18 computers and monitoring computer software, to make sure 19 that we can keep the diesels as safe and reliable as 20 possible. And this wasn't something that was required 21 by the NRC or anything like that. This was something 22 that the Byron station said that they wanted to be the 23 best in the fleet, and try to maintain the plant as safe 24 as it could.
25 And we decided to invest the money. And it NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
41 1 wasn't required. It was, you know, good for safety and 2 good for the public. So, you know, we put our money where 3 our mouth was, and we did a good job. So I just wanted 4 to kind of share that story about how the plant tries to 5 keep the public safe and keep everything, thanks.
6 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Kim Gouker, Ogle 7 County board.
8 MR. GOUKER: Thank you. Tonight was our 9 county board meeting, which is one thing I cannot change.
10 I'm glad to be here tonight to speak on behalf of the 11 community of Byron and Ogle County, as well. I'm a 12 lifelong Byron resident, except for the three years that 13 I went to college. That's kind of the time that this 14 started.
15 The environment is what you're looking at, 16 but part of that environment needs to be the community.
17 And the people at the Byron station that work there, the 18 management, have become a very vital part of our 19 community. They live here. They work here. They 20 participate in civic organizations. And the plant, 21 themselves, they immerse themselves into our community.
22 I remember what it was like before the 23 nuclear plant, and I think our community is better today.
24 There was much concern about how it would change our 25 environment, and it really hasn't, other than it has NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
42 1 improved the community tremendously. Just in closing, 2 I have a resolution that I had written, and asked the 3 county board to adopt, which my county board has adopted 4 it unanimously. And, basically, well, I'll read part of 5 it.
6 You know, whereas the electricity 7 generation is an important part of our state economy and 8 the economy of Ogle County. And whereas competitive, 9 abundant and reliable energy is a significant factor in 10 attracting and retaining jobs in Illinois, And whereas 11 since 1985 the Byron nuclear generating station has been 12 a major Ogle County employer, directly creating 850 13 full-time jobs, up to 2,500 part-time jobs during 14 refueling periods, and indirectly supporting thousands 15 more jobs throughout our county.
16 And whereas the Byron generating station 17 generates enough electricity to power over two million 18 homes without generating any air pollutants or 19 greenhouse gases. And whereas the Byron generating 20 station is the largest single-property taxpayer in Ogle 21 County and contributes directly to the community through 22 both financial and human investment and charitable and 23 community activities.
24 And whereas the Byron generating station 25 maintains the highest standards for safety and NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
43 1 environmental protections and has built a strong, 2 cooperative relationship with the county's first 3 responders and emergency service agencies. And whereas 4 its parent company, Exelon Corporation, has filed an 5 application to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission 6 for a 20-year renewal of its operating license at the 7 Byron nuclear generating station.
8 Therefore, be it resolved by the County 9 Board of Ogle County, State of Illinois on this 18th day 10 of June, 2013, that this body supports the renewal of the 11 operating license of the Byron nuclear generating 12 stations, and welcomes the Nuclear Regulatory 13 Commission's outreach to our communities to measure the 14 broad and strong support that exists for the license 15 renewal. Signed by myself and the Ogle County clerk, and 16 I've made several copies. That's really all I have.
17 Thank you very much.
18 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Mr. Brent Baker, 19 Byron Chamber and of the Byron Bank.
20 MR. BAKER: Good evening. Brent Baker.
21 I'm the president of our Byron Chamber and I also work 22 at the Byron Bank locally. I'm a parent of three boys 23 and a resident. So, we're going to take some assumptions 24 that Russ and his staff are doing a great job of keeping 25 us safe, as well as the environment. As it pertains to NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
44 1 our local community, Mr. Gouker hit it on the head. The 2 employees wrap themselves around our community.
3 The benefits of having the tax dollars, my 4 kids now have probably the best library in the county to 5 go to. They have the best park district to go 6 participate at. The best gold course to play golf at.
7 If our house is on fire, they've got the best fire 8 department to put it out. So, that means a lot to a 9 resident, to a family man, husband, father.
10 As it pertains to business, Byron Bank, we 11 thrive on local tax dollars, as well. We thrive on the 12 employees, the loans, the giving back. You know, we 13 always think we're one of the better at sponsoring the 14 local kids' events. Well, you're not going to find a 15 better friend than in ComEd and their staff. As it 16 pertains to the Chamber, you also talked about the 17 businesses. The 850 employees, the 2,300 part-time, are 18 going to our grocery stores. Are going to our gas 19 stations. Are going to our restaurants, our bars, our 20 whatever it is.
21 And so, there's a lot of good, a lot of good 22 things going on in that regard. And so, from the 23 Chamber, as a resident, and from the Byron Bank, we are 24 in full support and look forward to a lot more years of 25 involvement form Exelon and their staff. Thank you.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
45 1 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Bruce 2 Drawbridge, CB&I.
3 MR. DRAWBRIDGE: Good evening. My name is 4 Bruce Drawbridge. I'm a vice president with CB&I, 5 Chicago Bridge and Iron. They recently acquired my past 6 former company by the name of.Shaw Group. We provide 7 maintenance and modification and construction services 8 for the Exelon fleet, including Byron station. A little 9 bit about my background, heard a little bit about some 10 of the other people's backgrounds.
11 I did a little quick calculation. I've 12 spent 38 years in the nuclear business. I first started 13 off in the utilities side. I was a vice president of 14 operations for a nuclear utility in Massachusetts, and 15 then I was also responsible for the start-up and 16 operation for 10 years of the Seabrook nuclear power 17 plant in Seabrook, New Hampshire.
18 Since then, I've been on the service side 19 of the nuclear business. I've been 12 years working with 20 Exelon here at Byron station, and at their other 21 stations. I've also worked with other companies in the 22 nuclear industry. And I have to tell you that Exelon is 23 the model for rigorous implementation of work. I'm 24 going to give you a few statistics here specific to Byron 25 station. This is just from my company.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrQross.com v
46 1 I went back and took a look over the last 2 three-and-a-half years. Just so you know, our 3 maintenance modification work is, primarily, done during 4 refueling outages. We keep a small group of people 5 onsite, working with the in-house people, developing 6 work packages, developing our schedule for the refueling 7 outage.
8 And then, as the outage comes closer, we 9 bring in more people. We hire from the local community.
10 These are Union jobs. We hire from the local Unions.
11 Some of them come in from other areas as travelers. In 12 2010, we peaked at 969 people, and had almost, just over 13 $13 million in payroll. In 2011, this was a dual outage 14 year, we peaked at over 1,000 people, 1,053 people, and 15 our payroll was just over $36 million.
16 In 2012, we had 848 people as a peak, $16 17 million. And then, so far this year, we've peaked at 838 18 people and, again, just over $16 million in payroll.
19 These are good jobs that go back into the community. So, 20 over the past three-and-a-half years, we have performed 21 1.1 million person hours of work activity at the station, 22 helping the station maintain and improve their equipment 23 there at the station. I want to tell you we support the 24 re-licensing of these plants. Thank you.
25 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Dave Kraft, NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
47 1 Nuclear Energy Info. Service.
2 MR. KRAFT: Thank you for the opportunity 3 to speak. I'm Dave Kraft, director of Nuclear Energy 4 Information Service based in Chicago. We're a 32-year 5 old environmental organization that' s been watch dogging 6 the nuclear power industry in Illinois during that 7 period. I actually wasn't planning on making comments 8 tonight, but hearing your comments sort of triggered some 9 thoughts that I wanted to share, particularly to the 10 community members.
11 The first question, though, I have is will 12 the slides be made available on the NRC website for 13 review?
14 MS. HAUSMAN: Yes.
15 MR. KRAFT: Okay, that's good. So the 16 first comment is very brief, and it's directed to the NRC 17 that you've heard many very positive statements about 18 what a positive impact Byron has had on the community here 19 over the years. The investment of the company in the 20 community. The generosity and the charity that has been 21 done by the workers. I guess I would just point out, 22 though, that this is a meeting about the environmental 23 impact statement.
24 And, as commendable as all of the good works 2 have been, and all the benefits that the company has NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
48 1 provided to the community, I would remind the NRC that 2 it' s actually irrelevant to the determination of whether 3 the facility will pass the environmental muster on this 4 plant. I don't have a position one way or another yet, 5 because I haven't seen all the details of the 6 application. But I did want to at least hone in on that 7 point, because it's only natural, it's only human that 8 a community would embrace the positives. And we' re not 9 saying that there aren't any. There certainly are, 10 especially in a rural community such as you have out here.
11 But hearing as many comments as I did, I'm 12 reminded of the old Aesop fable of the grasshopper and 13 the ant. Kind of a paraphrasing of that would be, you 14 know, that when things are going great, you know, the 15 grasshopper can sit around and extol all the positive 16 benefits. But it's the ants who plan ahead that are the 17 ones who will survive any unexpected and unforeseen 18 circumstances that can occur.
19 And I bring that up, in particular, in a 20 community that depends as heavily as yours does on the 21 nuclear power plant. It's, essentially, a company town 22 situation. You know, for better or for worse, it is what 23 it is. But that doesn't mean that a community can't plan 24 ahead for things going wrong. And, I guess the comment 25 I would make is you really ought to.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
49 1 I saw what happened to the community of Zion 2 in 1997 when, back then it was ComEd decided to pull the 3 plug on the plant. That community lost $5.5 million of 4 its tax base overnight. So I ask you, members of the 5 Chamber, and the bankers and the others to take a look 6 at what that would mean for the community of Byron to lose 7 a sizeable portion of its tax base should some unforeseen 8 circumstance result in the closure of the plant, either 9 temporarily or permanently.
10 It's up to the company sometimes, but it's 11 up to the NRC other times. So it's something to really 12 consider. And back in the late '90's when that did 13 occur, I spoke with some of the local legislators up there 14 that, perhaps, what might be needed, moving forward in 15 these kinds of situations where you have a company town, 16 is some sort of an economic mitigation fund. An escrowed 17 fund that could be negotiated between the company and the 18 communities to prevent a sudden and abrupt drop in tax 19 base and loss of service should something go wrong with 20 the plant.
21 I think that's something that is a part of 22 prudent planning, and I would suggest that that be 23 examined, both by the business community, and also the 24 elected officials around here. Because some day this 25 plant is going to close. Now, that may be out of your NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
50 1 lifetime, so maybe you don't care about that. But again, 2 prudent planning and defense of the community, I think, 3 argue for some sort of softening of that blow. And 4 working out some sort of a way to make sure that the 5 communities aren't totally devastated by the loss of the 6 operation of the plant.
7 Another example would be the Clinton 8 facility. This was before ComEd got involved with it.
9 I don't know if any of you have ever been downstate to 10 see downtown Clinton. But the last time I was there, it 11 was pretty much a ghost town because of the problem that 12 Illinois Power at the time, and then AmerGen were having 13 at that facility. This is something you need to pay 14 attention to as a community to protect yourself. So, 15 that's the first comment.
16 Second comment is, again, I think addressed 17 to the NRC. I want to mention I have met many nuclear 18 workers at a lot of plants. A lot of times we don't 19 agree; most of the times, as a matter of fact. But I was 20 impressed over and over with some of the people I have 21 met, even here at Byron. Last year, I was at the annual 22 review. I was really impressed with the tenacity of 23 Barry Quigley, a member of the Byron staff. Really 24 hammering on a safety point that he thought was 25 important.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgoss.com v
51 1 I would really like to see more of that in 2 the nuclear industry, but I don't. And when I have seen 3 it in the past, the individuals who, perhaps, were 4 asserting themselves a little too strongly, didn't 5 always end up with, you know, being treated well. So, 6 I wanted to put that in the context of the notion of safety 7 culture. That shouldn' t be a term unfamiliar to most of 8 you in the audience, especially those of you working at 9 the plant.
10 But I'm bringing it up because I heard it 11 a lot last year from Chuck Castro, the former Region III 12 director of NRC who just left. And also, from Allison 13 MacFarlane when I met with her last September in 14 Washington. That the notion of instilling a safety 15 culture is important to the Agency. Well, one of the 16 things we want to point out to the Agency is that 17 standards that are promulgated in a safety culture should 18 be a floor, not a ceiling.
19 They shouldn't be just, you know, a bunch 20 of check boxes where, if you do this kind of performance, 21 that's adequate. You know, that may be necessary, but 22 it's really not sufficient. And I'm saying that because 23 of the definition that Chuck Castro used at the Palisades 24 plant last year to define a safety culture from an NRC 25 slide. It was going beyond the standards. It was going NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
52 1 beyond the mere expectations.
2 So this is what we are going to be looking 3 for in this process, both the environmental side and the 4 generic application, which will be filed for both Byron 5 and for Braidwood. And we would expect that if the NRC 6 is serious about safety culture, that they will take that 7 attitude that the standards that are set are just the 8 basis that you should do, and you should always aspire 9 to do more than that. So thank you for the opportunity.
10 Good night.
11 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Does anybody 12 else have any cards that are filled out, or have a 13 comment? Okay. I would like to thank everybody for 14 coming to the meeting, for the participation, for the 15 comments. And, any comments that were made tonight will 16 be available in the scoping summary report which will be 17 available publicly on the licensing renewal website.
18 And the address for that website was on the handout, or 19 in the slides.
20 And, if you have any future comments, please 21 provide them either electronically or in writing. And, 22 in closing, the NRC is always looking to improve the 23 public meeting format and process. So there are public 24 format feedback forms in the, I think they're right 25 outside the room here. You can fill them out, and NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
53 1 they're postage paid, and you can send them back in. And 2 we do take all comments under advisement. And, if 3 there's nothing else, I will adjourn. Yes.
4 MR. MOREY: I just wanted to say thank you 5 for coming this evening. And if you have any questions,
.6 you know, maybe you didn't feel like asking a question 7 during the question period. If you have a question for 8 the staff, we're going to hang around for, you know, a 9 few minutes if you want to come up and talk to us. So 10 thank you.
11 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you everyone. The 12 meeting is now adjourned.
13 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.)
14 1
16 17 18 19 20 21 NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com